The invention relates to an electrically excited gas laser of circular cross section perpendicular to the direction of beam propagation, whose excitation chamber is defined by two concentric tube walls which serve simultaneously as electrodes for the gas discharge, the outer electrode preferably being at ground potential.
Gas lasers of circular cross section perpendicular to the direction of beam propagation are disclosed as pulsed carbon dioxide lasers in German Pat. No. 29 19 708. Such lasers are characterized by a particularly compact structure of the excitation chamber. Since the outer tube wall serving as an electrode is at ground potential, the electrical security of the system can be accomplished in a simple manner, as in the case of a coaxial cable.
It is an object of the invention to improve the known laser design in order to reliably assure a continuous or modulated-continuous beam operation and to improve the cooling of the heated laser gas by means of the external tube wall.